The U.S. Olympic basketball team and the team-photo conspiracy

<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/25513177?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS">Darren Rovell</a> has a blurb about this on his blog.

Here's what he points out:

Now let's play a quick game of "What's Up?"

1. As loyal reader Michael Odio points out, Coach K is sitting. When a team stands, a coach normally stands. Why is this significant? Because Coach K's left foot just happens to be blocking the adidas logo on Dwight Howard's left foot. Intentional?

2. Then look at the height of the players. Every player is in height order, with the exception of Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh. Howard is listed at 6-foot-11, while Bosh is listed at 6-foot-10, but Bosh's hair clearly trumps Howard. What does this allow for? It gives Howard an excuse to hold the ball and be the only player to not have his hand behind his back. This conveniently helps Howard cover the Nike logo on his shorts.

A Nike insider informs us that this shot was an artistic photo taken in Las Vegas and that there's no conspiracy behind the posing of everything surrounding the team's only adidas endorser. By the way, the reason why some players don't have the Swoosh on their shoes is because they wear other Nike brands: Chris Paul (Jordan), Dwyane Wade (Converse) and Carmelo Anthony (Jordan).

We're seeing the hands-behind-back version of the man-hug: Normally, if you stand with your hands behind your back, they're usually clasped somewhere near your tail bone. Only that wouldn't work for this pose, because if they're down near your tailbone, they would be awkwardly close to the next guy's ... y'know.

That's why their arms look like they're bound up behind their backs -- they're artificially raising their hands up to avoid getting anywhere near the next man's package.

Without seeing a blown up picture of this, Coach K looks like a mall security guard, with the pants, some type of ACME Security badge on his left breast, and an arm patch on his left shoulder with a logo of some sort, probably a lightning bolt.

Without seeing a blown up picture of this, Coach K looks like a mall security guard, with the pants, some type of ACME Security badge on his left breast, and an arm patch on his left shoulder with a logo of some sort, probably a lightning bolt.

Click to expand...

Actually, it looks like he's going to turn to his left and knob off Dwight Howard.

Without seeing a blown up picture of this, Coach K looks like a mall security guard, with the pants, some type of ACME Security badge on his left breast, and an arm patch on his left shoulder with a logo of some sort, probably a lightning bolt.

Click to expand...

Actually, it looks like he's going to turn to his left and knob off Dwight Howard.

Click to expand...

"I certainly didn't want to do this, but I care about this team. I want them to develop in the classroom of life."